James Jefferson served in an Army transportation unit in Vietnam, working as a stevedore on an ammunition ship.

“I got hit in the spine with a 2,800-pound napalm bomb swinging on a cable during monsoon season,” Jefferson said.

Now he's getting hit in the wallet, by the VA.

He has bills showing hundreds of dollars in prescription copay charges. In many cases they're for drugs Jefferson says he did not want or need. He tried complaining to the VA.

“I said I have enough medication for four people. I said, 'I don't need all this medication,' and it kept coming in the mail,” Jefferson said.

Copays for drugs and doctor visits totaled $1,900, including interest. The VA collected the money from tax refunds to Jefferson and his wife.

“It was quite a hardship because it's only her and I and we're both retired,” he said.

He was forced to sell a motorcycle and a vintage car that he had refurbished.

The VA does reduce or waive copays for lower-income veterans. But Jefferson said no one at the agency ever told him that.

Nor was he told that some of the drugs he was prescribed -- including Warfarin, a blood thinner -- are available at Walmart for half the price.

“It's ridiculous,” Jefferson said.

In a statement, a VA spokesperson said, "VA sets its outpatient prescription copay rate based upon federal regulation which ties increases to changes in the Medical Consumer Price Index for prescriptions."

But the VA itself has questioned its prescription policy.

Action News Investigates obtained a five-year-old VA document that found "... veterans are charged an $8 copayment for many prescriptions that would cost them only $4 at Walmart."

The analysis also found, "It seems very likely that under the current copayment plan many veterans are charged excessive copayments by VA."

Congressman Mike Doyle disagrees with that.

“An $8 copay I can tell you for the vast majority of veterans is going to be cheaper than they can get anywhere else,” Doyle said.

Reporter Paul Van Osdol: “Should the VA do a better job educating veterans about their options when it comes to these drugs?”

Doyle: “Veterans know their options, believe me.”

But veterans at this VFW post in Lawrenceville said they did not know they had options to get cheaper medicine, possibly saving them thousands of dollars.

Retired state trooper Edward Siwicki just found out he could save big money on his prescriptions by getting them from Highmark instead of the VA, where he had been going for years.

Van Osdol: “How much could you have saved if you'd been getting your medicine through your private insurance company?”

Siwicki: “I would say probably a thousand dollars in the last couple years.”

Veteran Tony Piotrowski pays $8 copays for metoprolol and lisinopril.

But those same drugs are available at Walmart for just $4.

No one at the VA ever told him that.

He said he is sure he would save a lot of money not getting his drugs from the VA and now he’s going to try.

“If it saves me money it could save everybody money, every veteran,” he said.

Veterans should check to see if there is a generic version of their medicine available at discounted rates.

Also they should see if they qualify for a discount at the VA because of their income. Veterans who have a 50 percent service-connected disability do not have to pay anything for their medicines.